U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Public Support for Correctional Treatment: The Continuing Appeal of the Rehabilitative Ideal

NCJ Number
170256
Journal
Prison Journal Volume: 77 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1997) Pages: 237-258
Author(s)
B K Applegate; F T Cullen; B S Fisher
Date Published
1997
Length
22 pages
Annotation

Public attitudes toward rehabilitation were studied by means of a survey of a randomly selected sample of 1,000 Ohio residents.

Abstract

Questionnaires were mailed to each member of the sample following Dillman's total design method. The first mailing was distributed in May 1996; reminder mailings followed 1, 3, and 7 weeks later. Five hundred fifty-nine persons returned completed or nearly completed questionnaires. In addition, 105 questionnaires were returned unanswered because the intended recipient could not be located, had moved out of the State, was too ill to complete the survey, or was deceased. The resulting response rate was 62.4 percent. Results indicated that the public still believes that rehabilitation should be an integral part of corrections policy. Furthermore, support for a treatment approach is fairly consistent across demographic groups and across different types of questions used to determine citizens' opinions. Findings indicated that policy makers consistently overestimate public punitiveness and consistently underestimate public support for rehabilitation. Tables, notes, appended sample vignette, and 78 references (Author abstract modified)